


Threshold

by pinesinthewoods



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AU, Angst, Gen, Hallucinations, Major Character Injury, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 12:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6470383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinesinthewoods/pseuds/pinesinthewoods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Written pre-ATOTS) An AU look at how Stanley got his burn, and why Stanford went through the portal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Threshold

“You want this journal so bad?” Stanford’s eyes narrow at Stanley. 

“Take it.” 

He lets go. 

His brother stumbles backwards, still clutching the journal. Stanley’s eyes lock onto Stanford’s for a second. Shock, betrayal, and naked hurt are conveyed in that brief moment. His back slams into the side of the wooden desk.  There is a stomach-turning hissing sound like a hot pan put under cold water.

Then Stanley screams. His entire body arches away from the wall and he collapses in a writhing heap on the ground. The journal slips from his fingers and falls next to him. Stanford stands there, staring, numb at the sight before him. The ward had burned clean through the fabric of his coat and shirt. The symbol is prominently  branded into his back, right near the shoulder blade, now glowing on his brother’s skin. The sickening smell and sound of burning flesh still linger, and the entire area around the brand is red and welted. 

Stanley’s screams devolve into heaving sobs, punctuated by moans of pain. Stanford never heard his brother make a sound like that before in his entire life. He wants nothing more than to cover his ears and run as far away as he could. But he’s rooted in place, still staring, unmoving as his brother curls into a miserable ball.

“It hurts, oh god, it hurts… ” Stanley is whimpering. 

 Stanford remembers when they were young, it may as well have been another life, how his brother would get into fights on his behalf. How he would come out of those fights, hurt but proud, cuts and bruises on his face and arms. Stanford would try to patch him up, gently chiding him as he applied peroxide and band aids. What could help him now? Over the years he had hurt his brother before, but never like this. He has stepped beyond a threshold and he can’t return.

Yet Stanley still looks up at him with tears streaming down his face, and calls for his brother, pleading for help. Stanford takes a step back and shakes his head. 

“I’m sorry,” he croaks, beginning to tremble. 

“Stanford…p-please, it hurts…so much…” Stanley begs. And despite the pain, and countless years of separation, there is still hope in his eyes. Hope that Stanford isn’t lost. That they can go back to how they once were. 

“It’s too late,” Stanford whispers. He is coming apart, unraveling, and he has to leave now before he hurts his twin again. So he turns away from him and runs. He runs toward the portal, now pulsating with blue energy, ready to swallow him whole. Stanley is screaming his name, but he doesn’t look back.

“There is no going back,” he affirms quietly to himself and to the portal. The light engulfs him. “Not anymore.” 


	2. Ruins

Stanley lay as still as a corpse among the ruins of the portal.  His brother was gone. Silence swept through the destroyed lab like a tidal wave. His senses still rang with the cacophony of energy and light expelled from the machine. Every emotion warring against within him suddenly vanished. He just felt…nothing. The only thing that grounded him to his nightmare reality was the enveloping pain, radiating from his back. He stared at the now empty eye of the portal, and it stared silently back at him.  He didn’t know how long he lay there.  Was it Minutes or hours? Time was relative anyway. That’s what Stanford had always told him. 

After an eternity (or a few minutes, he never knew) , it felt as though his soul had come back to his body.  He could think coherently again. His emotions bled out, quickly filling up the void in his heart. He wasn’t relieved by this, it just made him want to not exist.  The pain in his heart rivaled the one in his body, and all he wanted to do was curl up and let the ground swallow him. 

Years later, when Stanley looked back on this moment, he still was never sure how he continued on. But somehow, he did. The pain from the burn(was it a burn? What the hell had burned him?) took on a fresh urgency and he realized he had to get out of the basement.  Finding inner strength he never thought he had, he stood up and slowly limped over to the elevator.  He banged his fist on the button, and practically fell inside when the doors slid open. The elevator ascended and Stanley tried not to pass out. Every nerve trembled with that bright orange light. 

Strange shapes and colors began to flicker in front of his eyes. 

Blinking, he shook his head to clear them away. 

The elevator opened and Stanley gazed up the stairs, trying to prepare himself from the momentous task of climbing them. 

(This pain, I can’t TAKE it anymore-) (You have to , Stan.)  

With a sob, he began to climb,  leaning heavily against the wall, blackness now at the corners of his vision. He felt as though he was balancing between dreams and reality, and he was seeing strange things, shapes, golden triangles, he heard them laughing at him.(Am I hallucinating?) He doubled over and retched, his mind flickering to black. 

The triangle was talking to him, floating around his head, a single eye staring emotionlessly at him. He didn’t know what it was saying, but decided it would be in the best interest for his sanity to continue up the stairs. It followed behind him, and he thought he heard it say something about a deal, something about Stanford. (Don’t listen to it.) An instinct within him screamed to not look at the thing, ignore it. He kept his eyes fixed forward until he reached the top of the stairs. Suddenly the triangle was gone. Stanley couldn’t think about it now. He didn’t want to know what it would mean if he was losing his mind on top of everything else. 

As he moved through the shack, he didn’t look at all the objects belonging to his brother. (Just reminders of him). Somehow, he found his way to the bathroom. His legs gave way and his stomach seized up, causing him to retch again, into the toilet. After a few moments he caught his breath, then  moved to the tub and fumbled with the faucets until they turned on. The water hissed out from the shower head.  With the last of his energy, he dragged himself into the tub, not bothering to remove his clothes. He didn’t think he could remove his shirt at the moment anyway, the pain would have been too great. The cool water hit his back  like a breath of oxygen. 

He tried to gather his thoughts, tried to come up with a course of action of what to do next.

“Think, Stan.” His voice startled him. It was hoarse from screaming and weeping, and utterly broken. He couldn’t think right now.  His soul felt in ruins. 

So he sat there, knees pulled up to his chest, and allowed himself a moment of reprieve as the water helped dim some of the pain. He felt the scorching mark throb on his back, in time to his own heartbeat.  (What’s happening to me?) He knew that deep down he had been branded with magic, he felt it fuse to him. He didn’t know what it did, and honestly he didn’t want to know . The shower steadily rained the water on him, and he closed his eyes, curling tighter around himself.  

He was back at Glass Shard Beach,  feeling the sea breeze in his hair as he rocked on his swing. Stanford was next to him, smiling. The waves crashed on the shore, and seagulls called lazily overhead. Stanley gazed out at the ocean. There was nothing but darkness on an endless horizon. 


End file.
